The influence of product knowledge on the relative importance of extrinsic product attributes of wine

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of product knowledge, both subjective and objective, on the relative importance of four extrinsic product attributes of wine, namely price, age, brand and region of origin. The relative importance of four product attributes is evaluated comparative to consumers’ self-reported and objectively measured knowledge of wine, using the conjoint analysis technique. The results suggest that product knowledge does influence the relative importance of extrinsic wine attributes in product evaluation, with the price of wine shown to be the dominant attribute regardless of the level of product knowledge expertise. Brand, age and region of origin received differing rankings of importance. Across all four levels of product knowledge, consumers navigate their evaluative product decisions according to the midpoint between most and least expensive wines in their consideration set. Price sensitivity appears to heavily impact consumer evaluation strategies, which serves to inform wine pricing strategies.